Puppet Burst
by Wrath76
Summary: Two friends, separated from childhood.  When they meet again, will they recognize each other or will it be the reason for destruction? Romance implied. One-shot AU


***Pant* Yep, here it is, the fanfic I'm talking about… Hooray for me!**

***Cue in crickets***

**I'm not that knowledgeable in FMA so I have to check the Wiki sometimes. I can't ask my FMA-addicted friend; this is a gift for her and my other friends, after all. They're all RoyAi fans…**

**I'm altering the actual story a bit to suit the story line of the song; this is fan fiction after all. But forgive me for the OOCness, especially that of our favorite stoic sniper, Riza Hawkeye.**

**Disclaimer: I do own neither Full Metal Alchemist nor Karakuri****卍****Burst (this is a song, not an anime).**

**Warning: The romance is rather implied. Don't expect me to write about cheesy stuff!**

**P.S. Karakuri means marionette/puppet. If you ask me, the title is rather, um, contradictory, considering Deidara and Sasori from Naruto. -/_\-û **

* * *

><p>"Bang!"<p>

Riza Hawkeye laughed maniacally as she shot her last victim in the head. It may be nearing Christmas but all the snow and her white robe has been dyed red of her victims' blood. And all the screams of dying people and mourning cries from others were music to her ears. A merciless, insane killing machine, people would say.

She has been killing people at the order of the Homunculi ever since they took her under their care, or should I say, kidnapped her. She was priced by them in a way that never involved alchemy; she never has been inclined to use flame alchemy anyway. No, she is a gifted sniper, exceptional to the point that she could hit her target the first time she handled a gun.

"Heh, all killed now, Lust-sama," Riza said into the microphone of her wireless radio at her neck.

"Good," Lust answered through the earpiece. "Return immediately back to headquarters, Riza."

"CAN I EAT ALL THE PEOPLE THERE?" Gluttony asked Riza from where he was hiding. He always comes with Riza whenever she has a killing spree.

"Go nuts," Riza laughed as she went back to their base, leaving Gluttony to clear up the area after her while she wiped the blood away from her face and right eye. She lost the left one when she is little and kept it covered with her blond bangs and bandages underneath ever since.

* * *

><p>"Great, so there's another killing spree?" Colonel Roy Mustang asked exasperatedly when he looked up from the report paper that Warrant Officer Falman sent.<p>

"Yep!" one of his subordinates, Edward Elric, answered. "Unless you investigate this thing NOW, maybe the whole population of Amestris will be wiped out," the blonde boy pointed out.

"I am investigating it right now!" the colonel snapped. He controlled his breathing until he calmed down. God that kid sure could blow him up. "It seems that the Homunculi are at it…"

"Again?" his best friend, Maes Hughes asked. "It never gets old with them, huh?"

"Apparently," he answered, rubbing his temples.

Colonel Roy Mustang is one of the best state alchemists in Amestris. His oh-so-awesome good looks (which could also be put as 'baby face') that involves messed up raven hair, sharp dark eye (he lost the right one and usually covers it with an eyepatch) and worthy-to-die-for smirk usually sets women running after him (who usually involves one of Havoc's new girlfriends), which usually gives him a reason to be a womanizer, which also happens to be a good cover-up so that enemies will usually underestimate his analytical brain.

He is also the apprentice of Berthold Hawkeye, the first state Flame Alchemist. Which partly why he's dubbed one of the best.

"Well, we'd better solve this case, ASAP…" Hughes said.

"But it's almost Christmas!" Mustang whined.

"You sound like Elysia…" Hughes mumbled. Then his eyes brightened up. "Hey, have you see-"

"Yes, we did, Hughes," Edward deadpanned. Everyone's getting tired of seeing the same picture of Elysia in a Santa costume for two weeks straight anyway. Uh, let me rephrase that: everyone except Hughes. Ed cleared his throat before continuing, "Hey, Mustang. It's not like you're attending family reunions and stuff… You could investigate during the vacation!"

Mustang glared at the short blond boy. "You're just saying that only because you get to have your vacation in Resembool," he growled.

Ed shrunk back as best as he could while his mind went happily along the lines of "Damn right, you are! And I'm having my automail repaired without Winry throwing a wrench at me! HA! XD \m/"

The flame alchemist sighed. "Well, I guess I have nothing better to do in the holidays anyway… And I already got the pattern on how the Homunculi move around the country. Including the time intervals…" his voice trailed off. "Fine, it's Central for me then this holiday," he said loudly. "That's where they'll be heading out next, anyway."

The others simply smiled. It's rare that Mustang took initiatives, much less so when it is the holidays.

* * *

><p>"Good job out there, Riza," Lust said as she saw Riza go inside.<p>

"Anything for Lust-sama," the girl smiled innocently.

"Okay… enough with the praises and stuff… When are we leaving?" Envy piped up impatiently from behind Lust.

"God, Envy, you're just jealous you don't get to eat anything," Gluttony said happily.

"I'm not jealous."

"Sure, you are," Pride muttered.

"Now, you shut up, brat!" Envy screamed, his palm-leaves-like hair standing up on its end.

"Respect your elders," said Wrath, not really caring.

"Sorry, Wrath," Envy mumbled.

"Don't apologize to me." Wrath glared at the androgynous homunculus.

"Fine. _I __apologize __for __my__ misbehavior,__ Pride-sama,_" Envy said sarcastically.

"Hn," Pride smirked.

"Uh, may I ask when are we leaving?" the sniper respectfully piped up after watching the homunculi bicker. (A/N: What a paradox…)

"Ah, about that," Lust said. "Pride-sama?"

"In two days time," Pride said bossily. "We're heading for the base at Central. Then we launch an undercover attack on Christmas Eve."

"God, that's evil," Envy said.

"Well, we are setting a war against the state alchemists, aren't we?" Pride asked, an eyebrow raised, which simply looked unnatural on a kid.

"Uh, right…" Envy deadpanned.

"Riza, of course, will be heading the attack. This time, Gluttony will not come with her; I want the bodies to be obvious."

Riza's visible amber eye gleamed and she gleefully clapped her hands at the thought of blood staining her face and death screams ringing in her ears.

"Aw," was the only thing Gluttony said.

"Now pack up, everyone!" Pride ordered. "I don't want to be behind schedule."

Riza went to her room, where all of her guns are located. She took the one she used a while ago and started cleaning it.

_A young girl of about six years of age stood alone in the cemetery. The slight spring wind blew her blond bangs away from her amber eyes as she emotionlessly stared at the grave. Her father's grave. She gently touched the alchemical code on her back, just as young boy the same age as her ran to where she stood. She didn't bother to look at the boy as he panted next to her; she merely nodded to show that she knew he came. _

_The boy had raven hair which is usually messed up, but today he slicked it back to suit the occasion, though now it was messy as ever after his run. The girl's father, he chose the boy to be his protégée in the family legacy (since his daughter is not interested though she agreed into having the tattoo on her back), flame alchemy. Now he's dead, just after the boy learned how to use alchemy competently._

"_God, I really am sorry, Riza" the boy whispered when he finished panting and his breathing rate went back to normal._

"_Don't be," she answered. "At least now, he's resting…"_

_The two stayed silent for a while before Riza spoke again._

"_Now that you know alchemy… What are you going to do?" she asked with her eyes still on the grave._

"_I guess I'll be joining the military… I can't be the Führer if I'm not in the military, am I?" he answered, shrugging._

_Another silence ensued, the wind blowing gently._

"_How about you?" he asked suddenly. "Are you joining the military, too? You're pretty good with guns…"_

"_Maybe…" the girl answered. "That's the only place I can actually shoot without breaking the law now, isn't it?"_

"_Yeah…"_

_I __wonder __where __he __is __now,_she thought as she oiled the barrel of the gun. She unconsciously removed her robe and looked at the burned tattoo on her back. She always hid it under the robe.

* * *

><p>Roy slammed all of his bags when he got to his hotel room. This room is specially requested, to give him a good view of the city. He quickly lied down on his bed and stared at the ceiling for hours, reliving memories when he was a child still studying alchemy with his master.<p>

"_No touching my daughter, got it?" Berthold said._

_Roy nodded, looking at the girl his master pointed at. She had blond hair that she cut short in military style._

_The girl went nearer them. Roy, the naïve boy that he is, inched farther from the girl._

_Her amber eyes went wide, then a sadistic smile spread slowly across her lips._

_She poked the boy gently with one finger._

_Roy actually ran away, screaming at the top of his voice in a highly effeminate fashion._

_Then he tripped, his right eye slamming on a sharp rock._

Roy chuckled at his idiotic younger self while touching his eye patch. But then, he is still young back then.

"_Bang!"_

_The girl was lying flat on her stomach, a gun on her shoulder. She learned the hard way not to let her eye touch the scope, losing her left eye when the rifle recoiled. She was now shooting at targets 500 miles away from her, hitting them all with amazing accuracy._

"_Wow, I didn't know you could shoot," Roy said when she decided to have a water break from her shooting practice._

"_Well," she said quietly, "Dad says it's either flame alchemy or target shooting in the family, anyway. Dad is just one of the few in our family who mastered alchemy. That's why he took an apprentice. I don't have the talent for it."_

_Roy simply listened quietly, snapping his gloved fingers to create sparks._

* * *

><p>"Tonight, we launch the attack, got it?" Wrath said. "Any questions?"<p>

"None, Wrath-sama."

"Good. Now leave."

* * *

><p>Roy lurked in the darkness, waiting for the attack. He situated himself in a place near enough to attack whoever the mass murderer be but far enough to not be seen or hit by any flying weapon. He slipped on his special gloves when he sensed someone unfamiliar come to the area.<p>

_Heh,__I__actually__predicted__the__location__right,_he thought.

Riza loaded her gun inconspicuously under her robe before laughing maniacally and shooting the gun at random people and making the live ones scream bloody murder before being cut short with a single shot on their vital parts.

Roy blasted fireballs at the mass murderer, who dodged them perfectly with amazing speed while shooting people with precision. The alchemist moved locations all the while to prevent the assaulter from thinking that he was alone.

At last, all the people besides Roy and Riza are dead. Roy gritted his teeth angrily at the thought that he wasn't able to save even one person from dying while Riza merely laughed at her own blood-stained form.

"Heh, I guess I haven't killed everyone, yet…" the sniper mused.

"And you wouldn't," the alchemist growled. "I'd end up killing you anyway."

"Let's see you do it, then," she taunted, pointing the gun at the colonel while running away from him.

"Why are you killing them all?" He quickly formed blasts of fire to chase her, which she still managed to dodge.

"Why am I killing them?" she repeated. "Humans… they're simply discarded puppets, you know." She shot her gun at him several times, but he used a bit of alchemy to make a wall to block her unavoidable bullets.

"That's evil…" he growled. "And you know what I do with evil?"

"What?"

"I destroy it."

The combat took quite a long time; Riza running around and shooting from different angles, her bangs blowing away from her face showing the bandage that covers her lost eye, Roy attacking using flame alchemy and blocking her assaults, his visible dark eye burning with apparent hatred for this merciless assassin.

"Hm… A state alchemist who could use fire? Long time that I haven't seen one of them," Riza said laughingly, though a very faint trace of sadness could be seen in her visible eye.

"And let me guess," Roy raised his left eyebrow. "You killed flame alchemists before?"

"Not really."

He quickly noticed her drop of guard and quickly charged at her with his katana moving to slice her in half. She noticed this move quickly and proceeded to block this attack with her gun pointing straight at the colonel's head.

_Shit,__she __even __blocked __it,_he thought. _This __girl__'__s __a __freak._

_Damn,_she cursed inwardly. _How __could__ have __he __noticed __that?__ Good __thing __I __managed__ to __block __it._

But then cursing about the other's skills aside, their thoughts simultaneously flashbacked unconsciously.

_-Riza's flashback_

_I was asleep that night that Father died. The next thing I knew, there were this bunch of people who told me, "We own you now. Forget everything you used to be." I cried on my first night there, thinking that I would never be able to play with Roy again._

_-Roy's flashback_

_I went to the Hawkeye residence the morning after Master's funeral. Her grandfather, General Grumman, told me that Riza simply disappeared during the night. When it sank in, I cried. _

Both visible eyes, left for Roy and right for Riza, widened as they recognized each other. It took them a few seconds before…

"Roy?"

"Riza?"

* * *

><p><strong>Heh, nothing better than a cliffhanger to get killed immediately by readers. But then, Suzunosuke-sama (goddess of Vocaloid illustrators; God, her Len illustrations are to die for) hasn't made PVs of the next two songs, yet. Nor has anyone bothered to put English subtitles on them either.<strong>

**Anyway, the whole Karakuri****卍****Burst theme came only in the last part. The intro was rather long, isn't it?**

**Note: In order to remove the confusion, their ages at the time were about fifteen to seventeen**** years.**

**Please review!**

**Merry Christmas! XD**


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